The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Dahlia plant, botanically known as Dahlia hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Melody Harmony’.
The new Dahlia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Lisse, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact container-type Dahlia cultivars that have a freely branching growth habit, early and freely flowering habit, daisy inflorescence form, attractive ray floret coloration, and good postproduction longevity and garden performance.
The new Dahlia originated from a cross-pollination in Lisse, The Netherlands in 2000, of a proprietary selection of Dahlia hybrida identified as code number VP 61, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with the Dahlia hybrida cultivar Silver Years, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Dahlia was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Lisse, The Netherlands during the summer of 2001.
Asexual reproduction of the new Dahlia by cuttings since the spring of 2002 in a controlled environment in Lisse, The Netherlands, has shown that the unique features of this new Dahlia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.